How High Are Your Taxes?

[Silvean]

That's a cool octopus.

[Warriorbird]

That's a cool octopus.

Introduced to me by a student as an exam answer as to why he didn't like either political party. I dig it.

[Latrinsorm]

I'm sorry, I'm not always quick witted, but what is the point here? I don't get what you are trying to say. In any event, my opinion is that tax rates should never go up, tax revenue will rise based on inflation, all other things being equal.

The point is determining how high our taxes are relative to previous years.

The initial impetus was someone whose name escapes me at the moment pointing out the incongruity of our taxes never being higher while the deficit exists, and I noted that for people making $200,000 the reverse was actually true, but then I decided to look into it more because $200,000 could be an outlier. As it turns out it wasn't, so phew! High fives all around.

[Tgo01]

The point is determining how high our taxes are relative to previous years.

The initial impetus was someone whose name escapes me at the moment pointing out the incongruity of our taxes never being higher while the deficit exists, and I noted that for people making $200,000 the reverse was actually true, but then I decided to look into it more because $200,000 could be an outlier. As it turns out it wasn't, so phew! High fives all around.

How do you masturbate with both hands on the keyboard like that?

[Latrinsorm]

How do you masturbate with both hands on the keyboard like that?

I listen to a lot of Sting.

[Warriorbird]

I listen to a lot of Sting.

Gordon Sumner has much to answer for.

[everan]

The point is determining how high our taxes are relative to previous years.

The initial impetus was someone whose name escapes me at the moment pointing out the incongruity of our taxes never being higher while the deficit exists, and I noted that for people making $200,000 the reverse was actually true, but then I decided to look into it more because $200,000 could be an outlier. As it turns out it wasn't, so phew! High fives all around.

But that doesn't indicate how high are taxes are compared to previous years, it just states the years when a particular bracket had a better year, at least that's what it looks like to me.

You could have just said the other 3 categories had the same result as married filing joint, it would have made the whole thing less confusing.

Lastly, ok, so now what is the point again?

A more interesting correlation may be to go back to your year when taxes were lower, shoot out 2 years and see what the deficit was relative to now. Reaganonics would project it to be lower, demo-communism would project it to be higher. But I wouldn't use the brackets you use, they're way too broad, just look at say 50-150k.

I take that back, I don't know if that would be a more interesting correlation because I don't know what you are trying to show by those statistics.

[Atlanteax]

"Too damn high" is the only appropriate answer to be given.

[Latrinsorm]

But that doesn't indicate how high are taxes are compared to previous years, it just states the years when a particular bracket had a better year, at least that's what it looks like to me.

To clarify, then: the years listed are the absolute lowest for taxes, when that range of incomes had the absolute best year. In every other year, people with that (real) income paid higher taxes.

A more interesting correlation may be to go back to your year when taxes were lower, shoot out 2 years and see what the deficit was relative to now. Reaganonics would project it to be lower, demo-communism would project it to be higher. But I wouldn't use the brackets you use, they're way too broad, just look at say 50-150k.

I use the brackets I use because they are the regions where taxes are the lowest, and those regions turn out to be continuous. It so happens that an income of $50,000 had its lowest taxes in 1986, an income of $55,000 had its lowest taxes in 2009, an income of $60,000 had its lowest taxes in 2009, and so on. The region of 50k-150k happens to be one where 2009 was the best year for everyone except for exactly 50k married filing jointly.

I take that back, I don't know if that would be a more interesting correlation because I don't know what you are trying to show by those statistics.

I'm not trying to correlate anything. I just wondered when taxes were low for people, because people say a lot of things like "'Too damn high' is the only appropriate answer to be given." and I wondered if historical context might illuminate.

[time4fun]

"Too damn high" is the only appropriate answer to be given.

Our combined household income puts us in the top 1% of the country, and both me and my boyfriend disagree with this statement vehemently. Taxes are crucial for the well being of this country and those in it. People like us pay too little, and we both vote for politicians who would increase our taxes- because we'd rather see free college tuition, universal health care, and the eradication of hunger in this country than us getting one more vacation every year.

This country was at its best when our tax rates were higher on top income earners. People who treat taxes like they're some immoral burden are short-sighted fools who value money over the things that really matter. We pay more in taxes than most of the folks on this forum take home in income every year, and you won't ever catch us complaining about the high tax rates. So unless you're in the lower 50% of income earners in this country, you shouldn't be complaining either.